I guess I'm lucky, but I've never been charged travel expenses for ringside pick up for a regular show - for the National, yes.
George Alston runs a great 2 day handling seminar which I took a month or so ago. You have to have a thick skin, but his class was well worth the money.
A tidbit I learned at his seminar: amateur owner/handler, in his opinion, is not the way to go. My Jill finished her CH out of that class but that was shortly after it was first offered. At a show in the summer, I showed Addy out of that class and didn't get any points. The owner of the bitch that won, numerous people ringside, and a pro handler said Addy should have taken it. AOH class was the only thing we could figure was the problem. Who knows, but I'll not be entering that class again...